Traveling by RV has allowed our family to travel big on a smaller budget than the same trips would demand if flights, rental cars, and accommodations were necessary. Though the expense may be less, our trips certainly aren’t free – requiring campground reservations, food and fun on the road, and so. many. fuel. charges.
These are a few of the budget conscious moves we practice regularly as a family – both at home and on the road – that allow us to minimize the money we spend on everyday things and maximize our fun on the road.
Grocery Savings
Two cheers for Aldi!! (And two exclamation marks, I guess). Though we live in a rural area, we are fortunate to have two Aldi grocery stores 30 minutes from our house in opposite directions. I am so grateful that in today’s world of rapidly rising food costs, Aldi is still allowing us to keep our grocery budget in check.
I also use my Sam’s Club membership to save on bulk items about once a month.
The only other grocery store I occasionally shop at is Wegmans. I rarely go into the store there, preferring to use (and save a lot of money by using) their curbside pickup service. I can’t be trusted to go into a Wegmans and stick to my list – the bakery, the sushi, the awesome cheese section. Curbside pickup curbs my impulse buying, ha.
Without fail, if I go into any of these stores without a list, I buy more than we need and spend more than I intended. So I make a conscious effort to meal plan based on what we have in the fridge, freezer, and pantry, make a list, and stick to it while shopping.
Cooking Meals at Home
We have come to enjoy the savings we reap from cooking our meals at home so much so that we didn’t eat a single meal out on our camping trip to Cape Cod this summer.
Everyone has different priorities, and eating out just isn’t one for our family. The best part about how rarely we eat out is how much our family enjoys the experience when we do go out. It is about once every six weeks that one of our boys will ask to go out for pizza and wings at our favorite family spot. Mike and I have a few spots we love to dine, and we get out for a dinner and drinks date probably twice a year. (We prefer our date nights to come with a side of live music!)
We pack our lunches when we’re out for a day of hiking, biking, skiing, or otherwise adventuring. We regularly set up our table and chairs and small propane grill outside of our camper at rest areas on long travel days and make ourselves easy dinners like grilled cheese and tomato soup or spaghetti.
Taking our eat-in home cooked meals habit on the road with us saves us all kinds of money that, as a family, we prefer to spend on adventures like rafting the Colorado River or enjoying a sunset UTV tour in Moab.
Consignment Shopping
I am wracking my brain, but having a hard time remembering the last time I bought an article of clothing that was not second hand.
I did buy a new pair of running shoes recently. But most of my shoes even come from the consignment store.
Shopping second hand for clothing makes me happy for four reasons:
1. Buying second hand clothing is better for the environment. I’d far rather see unwanted clothing go to a second hand store than to a landfill, and I’m happy to offer that clothing an extended life of wear.
2. Buying second hand clothing is easier. The Style Encore store near me is so neatly organized by type of apparel (shirt, pants, skirts, etc…), color of the clothing, and size of the clothing. So often I find myself looking for something specific – a certain color cardigan, a pair of black or navy dress slacks. The organization of the store makes it so quick and easy to find what I am looking for.
3. Buying second hand is faster. I can be in and out of store in an hour and consider my back to school wardrobe shopping done. And then go for a run or a bike ride. Or a swim or hike with my family.
4. Buying second hand clothes saves me so. much. money. On my last outing I came home with two pairs of pants, a shirt, a dress, and two pairs of shoes (one pair of G.H. Bass flip flops and a pair of red Birkenstock sandals!) for $75.
Cleaning the Clutter
We renovated our three-season lake cottage into a full time home a year and a half ago. Our house is small. We often joke that we built our retirement home with a four and seven year old.
Living in a small house has forced us to regularly clear the clutter. And with the clutter cleared, suddenly we know exactly what we have. And where it all is. And we use it all. (And if we don’t use it, we donate or consign it!)
Knowing that whatever we buy has to find a home in our small house, forces us to put more thought into every purchase. We play the board games we have, use the art supplies we have, and spend most of our time outdoors swimming, boating, riding bikes or scooters, and playing basketball, wiffle ball, or yard games like cornhole or washers.
We enjoy what we have, and typically wait for the big occasions (birthdays, Christmas) to add new wants.
Finding Our Fun for Free
We have enjoyed our fair share of adventures that came with a flashy price tag. But we try to make sure those adventures are really important to us, and we enjoy them like the special events they are.
We try not to let big ticket adventures consume our days at home and on the road. Especially when there are so many adventures to be had for free.
At home, and while traveling, we’re always on the lookout for hiking trails, biking trails, and public playgrounds to utilize. At home, we’re lucky to live on a small lake that allows us to fish and boat and swim for free all summer. We have a play area set up in the woods by our house where the boys spend hours building forts and jumping on the trampoline.
I’m also a big fan of buying and using memberships. We became members of our closest science museum last year, and our $65 annual family membership allows us to visit that museum and planetarium for free, and also a long, long, loooooooong list of museums throughout the US and Canada for free as well! When traveling, I always look up museums that will honor our membership while we’re on the road.
This spring we bought season pass for our local ski resort, and already skied once on the pass before the end of the 2023 winter season, and have used the pass to give downhill mountain biking a whirl.
And we love having a National Parks annual pass on our big trips. In the summer of 2021, we visited 7 National Parks on our trip out west from Pennsylvania to Arizona and Utah. The National Park annual pass not only saved us money on entrance fees, but made the whole process of entering parks so much easier.
As we plan next summer’s big RV road trip, the idea of tightening up the budget belt strings is becoming even more meaningful.
What tips or tricks does your family use to save money for camping trips? We’d love to hear your ideas!
